Wednesday, April 29, 2009

I wrote this post back in July about a great red-white-and-blue decorating scheme for a camper. I had never seen a camper decorated so beautifully!It's been one of my most popular posts and I just happened to have come across more great ideas like these:

"Dorothy" designed by Sarah Pratt

Goldilocks & The Three Bears, designed by Mark & Joe Stead

Pleasantville by Liam Mooney

These are Airstream campers that are available at The Grand Daddy's Airstream Penthouse Trailer Park. I did a quick conversion of the $945R to US Dollars: it's about $108.84 per night and up, depending on the season. Hmmm....Cape Town anyone?

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

As if this wallpaper wasn't a great idea all by itself!Alenka Wagenaar (aka Kitty) took this already-great idea of picture-frame wallpaper (I found this paper at Kleurmijn Interieur) to the next level.She painted the wall first with magnetic paint then covered it with this terrific wallpaper. This allows her to change her wall without harming the paper.See her inspiration wall on flickr.Visit her appropriately-named blog, she.likes.cute.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Just think how much easier your mornings will be when you have a whole week's worth of outfits ready to go!Great for moms.Here's an idea: If you have a little one who likes to pick our her own outfits, you could do this one night at a time for the next day. This way there's no taking all morning to put an outfit together.

I suffer from cute overload every time I visit Atelier Sterre's blog.
She makes the most adorable little things from felt - like this baby buggy, or "kinderwagentje".
See this felt baby buggy and more kawaii felt goodies at Atelier Sterre.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Wow!Every once in a while I come across something amazingly different and creative. (Click on the photo to see it up close.)Who thinks like this?Darla Teagarden. Darla is a photographer and creator of this amazing gown called "Lover's Eyes Dolce Masquerade Gown."On her MySpace page, about the gown: "different styles of ''lovers eyes'' focused into the center of hundreds of white paper cupcake ruffles...An asymmetric hem and organic-likecascade.... A top Miss Evelynn's head, a glass glittered sculptured( paper mâché) pink rabbit & bow".Beautiful and inspiring.You can see more of Darla's work on her MySpace page, Darla Teagarden's Cupcake Ruffle Lover's Eye GownFound via Ullabenulla (great find!)

Friday, April 17, 2009

If you're like me you hate to get rid an old book. I don't care so much about the new ones - we give those to the library.But old books - different story.Recycle them into "vases"?Look at these cool vases made from old books! What a neat way to add texture to a display. I'm really going to have to try this one.Sweet Paul makes it look so easy!Recycle an old book into a paper vase tutorial here, via Sweet Paul.Photo by Ellen Silverman

Elsewares is a commerce site that features independent designers. They say, "We make a concerted effort to encourage creative business practices, support cottage industry, and keep corporate hegemony (sic) at bay."

Marie Claire Idees is looking for creative blogs. It's actually a contest.I found some gorgeous blogs here. Most of them are in French but of course you can always translate.I love Marie Claire Idees' blog; it's one I follow daily. Love the French aesthetic.If you would like to submit your blog visit: Marie Claire Creative Idees where you can also check out all the entries (MAB is #72). I totally don't expect to win anything but it's kind of fun to participate!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

So many of you have been asking me for a picture of the new baby so here he is in all his glory!I think he's about 6 weeks old here and look at those blue eyes!He is the sweetest baby ever and his big sister loves him so much. She doesn't like it at all when he cries, which is not that often, and will come over and stroke his head if she hears him crying.I could eat him with a spoon!

I love these graphics designs by 20-something graphic artist, Van.Van designs for Juna Studio and also has an Etsy shop where you can purchase a printable file of some of the cards she designs. The file includes instructions and templates for the cards and envelopes.

Van also makes gorgeous hand-embroidered cards like the apple one shown here.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Dana has a great tutorial on how to make a girl's dress from a man's shirt.Her instructions are very thorough and easy to understand with lots of pictures.Thanks, Dana, for this great idea! Adorable little dress and adorable little girl!Dana's a very talented re-fashioner and you and you can see lots more of her great ideas on her blog, Made.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Beautiful paper sculpture from Helen Musselwhite.Helen, from the UK, uses bright colors and strong lines in each wonderful piece of her highly-individual paper sculptures.I can't even imagine the patience one must have to do something like this.But I do love paper and I think I might try my hand at this sort of thing - on a much, less detailed scale to start with.Here - enjoy some of Helen's ab fab work. (By the way, notice the Janet Bell influence in that Harbour Tide piece. LOVE Janet Bell!)

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

But the weather can be fickle. Warm, sunny days, then like today - it's overcast and quite cool. So, why not bring a little outdoors in with some fresh, sunny flowers?

One of the things I've always loved doing is "forcing" branches of flowers to bloom. It really, really works! You can do this with forsythia, cherry blossoms and flowering quince. I have done it with all 3 of these plants with great success.
Just cut some of the thinner branches off. These might be the ones that would need to be trimmed anyway, so you might as well enjoy them.

If it's a "woody" type of stem you need to bang on the stems at the end. Just take a mallet of some sort and pound them about an inch or so from the bottom. Helps them drink.

Tips for Keeping Fresh Flowers Fresh

- Trim the stems just before immersing in water so they will be open enough to drink.- Use a lighter to heat-seal stems of flowers with a milky sap.- Cut off leaves below water level. Those leaves start to smell quickly!- Change the water every couple of days or so.- Pinch off dead blooms; some flowers will continue to bloom if they have buds on them- Use a cork coaster to protect furniture. Just use double-sided adhesive to stick it to the bottom of your vessel.

Ideas for Vessels:

Fish bowl (the small goldfish kind)

Clear or colored glasses or jars

Bottles - vintage ones would look especially nice

Compote dish

Jars

Votive candle holders

Egg cups

Empty cans wrapped with pretty paper or fabric

Clear glass vases are always pretty; I love them just as they are. But if you want to make them even more special, fill them with marbles, pebbles or glass beads in the color of your choice. Anything that's waterproof can work!

I'd love to see your spring flowers! Send me a picture or a link and you may see it posted here.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

I have a couple of major projects going on right now, plus a few smaller ones.
Our house was built in 1850 and we love it but it's a constant work in progress.
Right now we're painting the den. The den is on the second floor and is where we spend a lot of our time. This room has probably not been painted in 20 years. We also had quite a bit of staining on the walls from a leak on the 3rd floor. So - it was way past time to paint.
I chose a color that looks like warm wet sand. Love it. In the paint can it looks just like a melted chocolate milk shake!
So here are a few pictures of the work in progress. It's a mess so don't be offended. ;)

Friday, April 3, 2009

These vivid colors and patterns are surely brightening up my Friday!I found Lucy's blog, Attic24, which is full of colorful inspiration. She has provided a link for how to make the ripple pattern.I don't crochet so I don't know whether this is considered a difficult or easy pattern, but they are definitely bright. I want one of those pillows!